Smear campaign fizzles out as Marikina chooses the Teodoros

May 13, 2025 | 3:52am

MANILA, Philippines — The heated contest for Marikina City's mayoralty appears to have tilted toward Maan Teodoro by a few thousand votes, with partial election returns showing more of the city's disaster-weary voters choosing continuity. 

Based on partial, unofficial results aggregated from 80% of election returns, Teodoro currently leads with nearly 115,000 votes against fellow House lawmaker Stella Quimbo's over 91,600 votes. 

Meanwhile, incumbent Mayor Marcy Teodoro appears headed for a seat swap with his wife as he leads the race for Marikina's first district congressional seat. Partial and unofficial results show the outgoing mayor garnering about 60,000 votes against former senator Koko Pimentel's some 23,000 votes.

Both Maan's and her husband's apparent electoral success comes after weathering multiple controversies and targeted disinformation in the lead-up to election day. 

Just hours before polls opened, Marikina police arrested a man distributing fake tabloids claiming that Marcy Teodoro had been disqualified by the poll body. 

The suspect was found distributing printed materials with the headline: "It's final! Marcy Teodoro disqualified; votes for Marcy will not be counted!" 

In March 2025, the Office of the Ombudsman placed Marcy and other city officials under preventive suspension without pay for six months over alleged misuse of public funds worth P130 million.

Teodoro denied the allegations, calling them "politically motivated" and a "desperate attempt" to smear his name ahead of the campaign period.

The partial and unofficial results show, however, that Stella Quimbo's husband, former House member Miro Quimbo, is poised to win as representative of Marikina's second district. 

Miro Quimbo has so far tallied over 72,000 votes — higher than the 43,000 that Teodoro's ally Donn Favis garnered. 

Both Teodoro's and Favis ran under the National Unity Party, while the Quimbo's ran under LAKAS.

Teodoros retain hold on Marikina

Marcy has been the mayor of Marikina City for nine years, serving three consecutive terms since 2016. 

During his tenure, the city faced multiple devastating typhoons and floods that tested the city government's emergency response capabilities.

Amid the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses in 2020, Teodoro was photographed wading through floodwaters as he checked his constituents and directed rescue operations. 

Then-Interior Secretary Eduardo Año commended Teodoro's disaster response preparations during Ulysses and noted that Marikina did not record a single casualty compared to the death toll from Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.  

Marcy Teodoro's disaster management approach has been seen as a decisive factor behind his landslide victories in previous elections. In his 2022 re-election bid, Marcy defeated Bayani Fernando by a wide margin, garnering over 183,800 votes to Fernando’s 40,100.

Meanwhile, Teodoro's wife, Maan, was elected representative of Marikina's first district in 2022. She was named one of the lower chamber's assistant majority leaders. 

Both Maan Teodoro and her rival Stella Quimbo signed the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.